{"id":13679,"date":"2016-06-01T15:02:12","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T19:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13679"},"modified":"2016-06-01T15:02:12","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T19:02:12","slug":"film-putty-hill-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13679","title":{"rendered":"Film: Putty Hill (2010)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PuttyHill_poster_s\"Film<\/strong>:\u00a0Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> n\/a<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong> n\/a<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 n\/a<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Drama<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Friends and family of a young man dead from a drug overdose gather for his imminent funeral in gritty Baltimore city.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 n\/a<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

When financing for proposed coming of age film Metal Gods<\/strong> fell through, writer-director Matthew Porterfield used the assembled actors for a newly drafted vision in which friends & family gather for the funeral of a young man, dead in his early twenties from a drug overdose. Porterfield mined his childhood Baltimore environs of working class neighbourhoods in rather beat up states, with vestiges of manufacturing infrastructure rusting in glaring, visible corners. No one\u2019s rich, people are struggling to get by, and everyone has a tough past and errant pathway they\u2019re working on correcting.<\/p>\n

Putty Hill<\/strong> was reportedly shot in 12 days, an ambitious production with a huge cast of local actors, and more than a few fresh faces to film; everyone contributes to the genuine look and feel of sweaty, gritty characters, especially the teens, saturated with a deeper level of ennui than rivals in manicured suburban neighhoods.<\/p>\n

Porterfield\u2019s fictional film is also the closest a filmmaker\u2019s come in recent years to echoing the style of British director Peter Watkins (Edvard Munch<\/a><\/strong>, Punishment Park<\/a><\/strong>). Porterfield covers his characters like a documentary ENG crew, following his subjects and periodically asking plain and sharp questions from off-screen to set up almost everyone\u2019s relation to the dead young man named Corey. Watkins pioneered this unusual narrative style (which he dubbed \u2018the monodrama\u2019), and although it\u2019s not for everyone\u2019s tastes, it\u2019s clear for Porterfield, the documentary look, plus the off-camera questioning, the distant, locked camera setups, and sometimes darkened faces of his subjects were helpful in taking a scripted concept and improvised dialogue to flourish within an 85 min. running time.<\/p>\n

The problem with Putty Hill<\/strong> lies in the very loose scene structure, where whole scenes either work or kind of work, depending on how long it took the actors to hit interesting character beats. Porterfield solved most of the tempo and content issues by just cutting to better takes or sections, creating jump cuts akin to gritty 70s documentaries shot on soft and grainy reversal film. (When voices are completely drowned out, as happens in a tattoo parlour, their dialogue is subtitled like a news piece.) The character intros in the film\u2019s early scenes are measured and multiple, delaying the finale considerably, which isn\u2019t the actual funeral but the wake where everyone\u2019s gathered for a final send-off in a karaoke bar.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only at the wake when we see a huge picture of Corey, but he\u2019s kind of buried amid the bar\u2019s existing background clutter, and that alone cements Porterfield\u2019s determination to focus on his fractured characters than the dead guy, who can only be described as a good kid who finally succumbed to an addiction.<\/p>\n

A tattoo artist \/ uncle regards the tragedy as a lack of control and will, something he himself learned through experience while in prison; others are more ambiguous about their relationship with Corey, distilling him as a personality who would appear and vanish, leaving a faint yet glowing impression of a decent soul.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s ambiguities force audiences to fill in holes and take from the central tragedy whatever they can, but the narrative is too heavy in the gathering of characters during the first hour; the funeral we never see isn\u2019t an issue, but it\u2019s the meandering tone that affects more than a few scenes prior to the wake.<\/p>\n

Less effective and affecting, for example is a nighttime fire escape argument between estranged daughter and the tattoo artist that runs on with its locked camera position and teenage screaming.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum is a great scene that\u2019s filled with ennui and muddy audio. Four girls in a graffiti-splattered bedroom soon separates into pairs, and as the dialogue of the main character drones on, Porterfield swerves his camera to the other two who\u2019ve assembled to smoke and commiserate in the dim, amber living room; the shot lingers on the smokers a bit long, but it takes a while for the audience to realize we\u2019re not privy to their discussion, and just as we realize the source of the nattering is the first pair of girls, the camera swerves back to them for their final onscreen exchange.<\/p>\n

The inconsistent intelligibility of the dialogue mix weirdly works for the film, again adding to its documentary tenor, while the cinematography ranges from grungy to underexposed. The only music material that could be branded as score is a recurring solo string piece that drifts in & out before unfurling in full over the end credits.<\/p>\n

Putty Hill<\/strong> was reportedly shot on 720p Red and blown up to 35mm. The print screened at the Royal Cinema May 29, 2016<\/a>\u00a0is likely from a\u00a0handful that were struck in France, and it\u2019s a very<\/em> different experience than a watching a cleaner digital version. Right from the opening scenes, intentional or not, Putty Hill <\/strong>in 35mm looks like an indie documentary that\u2019s been sitting in a distributor\u2019s basement for 30 years, untouched, barely screened, and waiting to be discovered \u2013 qualities wholly absent from the digital master.<\/p>\n

The DVD released in America by Cinema Guild uses the digital master, and comes with (unsurprisingly) deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, screen tests from the aborted Metal Gods<\/strong>, and Porterfield\u2019s debut, the 65 min. feature Hamilton<\/strong>, shot on 16mm film, plus similar extras.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"TakeWhatYouCanCarry_poster_s\"<\/p>\n

Take What You Can Carry (2015)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Preceding the print screening at the Royal was Porterfield\u2019s recent short, Take What You Can Carry<\/strong> (2015), a Berlin-shot, German-funded drama that\u2019s more loose in structure than Putty Hill<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

From what the stitched scenes inform us, Lily (Hannah Gross from Porter\u2019s I Used to Be Darker<\/strong> and Nathan Silver\u2019s recent Stinking Heaven<\/a><\/strong>) is recovering from an unspecific addiction while studying in Berlin, drifting from the beds of companions to a rehab workgroup where \u2018loose\u2019 interpretive dance helps colleagues confront and expunge demons, fears, and secrets.<\/p>\n

When a group member feels ready, he \/ she grabs a mic and admits a flaw in judgment or viewpoint directly to the camera, cueing the far off DJ to spin a new piece, and anyone who shares in the personal flaw does a new dance until a fresh\u00a0topic is broached. Porterfield covers the entire session in one shot, and the concept works brilliantly because the actors engage in solitary and collective gestures and conversations; the need for close-ups and cutaways is\u00a0eliminated because within the wide frame we can drift and focus on other moments, like Lily chatting with a member, sometimes cheerfully, sometimes with apprehension.<\/p>\n

The short\u2019s final section has Lily house-sitting for a family, and as in a prior scene, she reads aloud personal correspondences which hint at a troubled past from where she\u2019s gradually, and confidently, moving away. The ending smacks of Michelangelo Antonioni\u2019s Blow-Up<\/a><\/strong> (1966) in which Lily stands in a park, observing others from a far distance \u2013 the final shot which gives audiences no closure, but allows them to impose their own conclusions to Lily\u2019s use of time and place, and whether she\u2019ll recede into a more introspective state, or advance toward the families in the park.<\/p>\n

Porterfield\u2019s second feature film and recent short aren\u2019t wholly satisfying, but they\u2019re filled with unusual cinematic approaches which force a specific view on characters \u2013 especially slices of their emotional vulnerabilities \u2013 yet leave explanations, personal closure, and futures completely unresolved, which can be infuriating, or quite rewarding.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB: Putty Hill (2010)<\/a> \/ Take What You Can Carry (2015)<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When financing for proposed coming of age film Metal Gods fell through, writer-director Matthew Porterfield used the assembled actors for a newly drafted vision in which friends & family gather for the funeral of a young man, dead in his early twenties from a drug overdose…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[4297,4462,4463,4464],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3yD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13679"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13679"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13695,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13679\/revisions\/13695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}